Guild Investment Management Inc. Sells 244 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Guild Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 17,054 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 4.6% of Guild Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Guild Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,271,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amara Financial LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 3rd quarter valued at about $288,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the third quarter worth about $4,972,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 28,626 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,695 shares during the last quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 3,723,104 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $876,483,000 after buying an additional 103,856 shares during the period. Finally, Tradewinds Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,308,000 after buying an additional 1,779 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $170.62 price objective (up from $167.88) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Apple from $259.00 to $256.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James lowered their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.80.

Apple Stock Down 2.3%

Apple stock opened at $202.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $205.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $226.26.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 160.83% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to buyback $100.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the iPhone maker to purchase up to 3.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 108,136 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.65, for a total transaction of $24,184,616.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $733,637,976.75. The trade was a 3.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 15,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. The trade was a 22.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 191,507 shares of company stock worth $42,694,080. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.